Network traffic is transmitted across a network, such as the Internet, from a sending system (e.g., a computer system) to a receiving system (e.g., a computer system) via a network interface card (NIC). The NIC is a piece of hardware found in a typical computer system that includes functionality to send and receive network traffic.
In some networks, a switch is used to receive traffic from the sending system before sending it to the receiving system. Traditionally, the receiving system could exercise some control over incoming traffic sent from a switch. With advances in virtualization technology, computer systems may now include multiple concurrently executing operating systems. Operating systems executing on such systems may be unable to exercise the same control over incoming traffic from a switch without affecting other operating systems executing on the computer system.